what is the best plant light for a 20 gal tank?

This is a discussion on what is the best plant light for a 20 gal tank? within the Beginner Planted Aquarium forums, part of the Beginner Freshwater Aquarium category; -->
hello. i have a flora-light, and my plants are still slowly dying. is this just a bad brand or are my plants dying for ...

Flora-light? if it is an incandescent light that could well be the reason. Very little useable light. If it is and you can upgrade, get a flourescent light. it will help a lot to get the plants to grow.

hmm, then more light is gonna be needed. How many watts are the one you use now and the flourescent? Also, make sure that the foourescent oyu were using has a Kelvin rating of at least 5500, 6500 seems to be the prefered and works well.

Ok I dont want to sound mean but..... at least state what kind of tank you have ( how big is it) what plants to you keep and what kind of lighting you have ( meaning how many watts) and for how long do you leave your light on.

Everything that has to do with lights and plants could have million of reasons and problems to it.

Your question sounds like.... Help I cant start my car. Do you know what I mean? not enough info. Give us more info.!!!

DO NOT FALL FOR THE WATTAGE TRICK Too many times hobbiests fall for the "If'n its gots alots of wattage it mustest be the bestest" scheme. It simply is not true. Wattage, simply put, is the amount of electricity the fixture uses. It is also a measure of heat. One needs to look at spectrum, lumens, and Kelvins, in order to pick and match ones needs.

Spectrum is the color that the light gives out. Plants and animals need certain spectrums of light in order to flourish.

Kelvins is a thermodynamic scale. The fomula for determining Kelvins is K=(degrees F+459.67)/1.8.

DO NOT FALL FOR THE WATTAGE TRICK Too many times hobbiests fall for the "If'n its gots alots of wattage it mustest be the bestest" scheme. It simply is not true. Wattage, simply put, is the amount of electricity the fixture uses. It is also a measure of heat. One needs to look at spectrum, lumens, and Kelvins, in order to pick and match ones needs.

Spectrum is the color that the light gives out. Plants and animals need certain spectrums of light in order to flourish.

Kelvins is a thermodynamic scale. The fomula for determining Kelvins is K=(degrees F+459.67)/1.8.

lumens is light intensity.

Hahaha well... no no and no. Wattage is the intensity of the light. As the light beams down thru the aquarium cover (glass usually) it than has to go thru the water afterwards and by the time it actually reaches the bottom you loose half of your light. That is light that is needed for plants, corals and so on.
Look at this, this way. Kelvin rating is the caliber of the bullet and watts or intensity of the light is the velocity of that bullet. So... in order for you to get that "Beneficial light" in K ratings to the bottom you'll need something to push it with and that is when WATTS come in to play.

Power usage usually depends on many other things like... amperage and the electric current itself. Ofter aquarium lamps specially Power Compact lamps give off many more watts of light than they actually use.

Unrulyevil, I guess all of the years that I spent studying and woking in the design field taught me nothing. Watts is one of the detemining factors in power consumption, Ohms Law (Watts/Volts=Amps). Watts also can be used in determining heat, ie. 1500w heaters. Heat is energy. Watts/heat should not be a measure of intensity.

Lumens may be interpretted in a couple of different ways. Foot candles may be a better term that would help the aquarist to select lighting, although this terms is usually used in determining the amount of light at a certain working plane.

Therefore, watts have nothing to do with the bulbs intensity. Watts just tells you how much power it takes to achieve that brightness. We, as aquarists, have become misinformed by those who are not informed enough to make statements like "X# of Watts per gallon". It is time we educate ourselves on the reality of what is true, on what is really the determining factor that makes things work right.